'DWTS' Samantha Harris opens up about cancer battle

TV personality Samantha Harris opened up to INSIDE EDITION's Jim Moret up about her brave battle with cancer. She said, "I wouldn't have known that I had cancer, probably for years."

Last fall, the former Dancing with the Stars co-host discovered a lump in her right breast during a routine self-examination. She says she underwent a battery of tests and doctors told her she was fine.

She said, "My mammogram came out clear. Then, when I finally did see a breast cancer specialist and oncologist, the ultrasound, MRI, and needle biopsy all came out that it was not cancer." But she said she still didn't have peace of mind. Then, last March, her doctor decided to do a lumpectomy, just to make sure she was okay. That's when it was discovered that she has breast cancer. She had a double mastectomy.

Moret said, "You made the decision to have a bi-lateral mastectomy, which was not an easy decision to make." "With me it came down to numbers. I'm not a gambler. For me, I wanted the best percentage of success without recurrence," she replied.

That operation has not ended the battle for this mom of two.

She said, "When I woke up in recovery and my surgeon was standing over me, he had this look of despair on his face. He shook his head and said, 'I am so sorry, I am absolutely shocked, the cancer had spread to your lymph nodes. I had to take out all of your lymph nodes.'"

Now, Harris is waiting for doctors to let her know if she needs chemotherapy. She also said she was shocked to learn that former Good Morning America host Joan Lunden also has breast cancer, a fact revealed by Lunden on Tuesday.

Lunden said on Good Morning America, "You have breast cancer, learn everything you can about this and go into warrior mode." Harris' reaction was, "I felt very much the same. You feel very helpless when you have a diagnosis of cancer."

Moret asked, "What do you want women to know who may be experiencing this very same issue?" "I walked around for four months with a lump that everyone, two doctors, said was nothing. That tests said wasn't cancer and it was, and I thought to myself, 'If there is even just one woman who is walking around right now with a lump that she doesn't think is anything, who has had doctors or test said it's not cancer, unless she knows for certain, maybe my story can help,'" she said.

Comments

I pray for samantha that she will come through this roadblock. I wish the public would understand which orgs actually prevent cancer or which are supported by the very industries manufacturing the known carcinogens in our daily used products. Komen does not tell the public about dangers of chemicals in everyday products because they are supported by the beauty industry and big pharma, who supply the public with known questionable, controversial and known carcinogens. Try searching on Komen or American Cancer Society websites for chemcials in products and NOTHING will come up. Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, Preventcancer, PublicsRight2know.org, Environmental Working Group all tell of dangers of chemicals in cosmetics and personal care products

What the f is going on? This disease is epidemic it's frightening.unbelievable. Is there something in the water? Is this disease terrorist act? Is this about the chemicals we spray our crops with? My mouth drops open each time I hear a woman has breast cancer.

I also had my yearly Mamograms...I started younger do to a scare in my thirties, even though it was fine...I continue to get my mammograms every year. Upon getting pain in my breast I decided to self exam, it was then I found a deep lump that was not movable. The oringal scare the lump was very round and movable. (It was not cancer).I was only about six months out from my yearly mammogram which was normal . This was cancer....by the time I found it I had lymph node involvement. As explained by my surgeon it had been growing and spreading at that point for three years, all my mammograms missed it. I got a partial mastectomy , three surges, almost two years of chemo..and radiation treatments at the age of 46....at the time I had a six year old child, and I was a single mom. I am now 54 ..so far so good, but not without permanent side effects from all the chemo, but I am grateful to have survived....always self exam...know your body.

I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer in November and just went through chemo and will face a masectomy mid July. I , too, believe that there is something going on with chemicals. I am trying now to use only chemical free products and eat healthier. My prayers go out to everyone who has received any kind of cancer diagnosis.